The All-Crushing Power Of Youth!
by Mollfar
Summary: Having first seen Lee and Guy's "Sunset Genjutsu", Naruto decides to find out how it could be made. Because Lee is totally unable to cast a genjutsu and it's one of Naruto's weak points too. Besides, sunset looks really really cool - there is a lot of orange color! This is a translation of one of the greatest and the most interesting russian Naruto fanfiction stories.
1. Chapter 1

No Beta. Would like one though.

This is a translation of Russian fanfiction story "Всесокрушающая Сила Юности!" by Desmond.

Hope my skill is enough to show you the brilliance of the story.

Feel free to show me my mistakes. Or to express your delight with the text's epicness! =)

* * *

Chapter 1

Naruto Uzumaki had a very incurious personality. Despite his incredible hyperactivity and restless character (sometimes it seemed he had an awl thrust in his ass so he couldn't stay sitting on one place even a minute) Naruto had always taken his surroundings for granted and never tried finding prime cases and test the borders to the limit.

That must had happened because he didn't have any normal childhood — adults always eyed him angrily and children didn't fancy playing with him. The lack of curiosity was the protective gear which saved him from a non-stop depression.

Academy teachers also didn't try to correct his behavior or turn his energy to a peaceful course. Unfortunately the only teacher who wished him the blonde success with all his heart hadn't realized that his Big Screaming Head jutsu didn't work on a child who got used to constant negative attitude. He hadn't come to an idea (or maybe hadn't considered it appropriate) of using Naruto's addiction to ramen as a motivation tool, using it just to cheer his student up. Finally Naruto's brain resumed to his natural course — everything he considered boring (which included all theoretical disciplines like history, geography, chakra theory and even teachers' advice on taijutsu lessons) went into one of his ears and immediately got out from the other one. All great power of his outstanding intelligence was spent idly on annoying senseless vandalism that were dodgy and clever tricks in his opinion. Which didn't increase his popularity among Konoha inhabitants.

He didn't take responsibilities for his pranks (the worst possible punishment was to wash his own graffities off, though Iruka often took him to ramen after that) and the Hokage always treated him kindly and indulgently; which both had a very negative influence on Uzumaki's behavior. A real paradox occurred — the most hated person in Konoha was probably the most spoiled one. Most priviledged local youths were born and raised in harsh shinobi clan traditions while Naruto never had any mentor standing behind his shoulder.

Despite the incredible capabilities of the three school jutsu Naruto had always considered them boring obligation which he had to learn to become ninja. Though he made an exception for a transformation technique which was modified and recklessly used for pranks. Plain transformation wasn't interesting for him. But turning into sexy girl and making the strongest shinobi sway or even fall down from the bloodloss — was quite different. Naruto enjoyed laughing and their expressions were gross!

Learning Shadow Clones — another technique with a boundless potential — haven't changed the situation. If not in deadly danger (where Naruto changed dramatically and suddenly became serious, collected and very smartass) he hardly ever used the First Hokage's jutsu. Except again, turning into a harem of blonde sex-bombs.

Having failed to master regular clone technique, Naruto had realized a long time ago that he had no talent for illusions. Academy teachers told him a lot of times that genjutsu is not his cup of tea and Uzumaki took it for granted. After all, to become Hokage you should simply be the strongest shinobi in the village.

* * *

When Bushy-Brow kicked Sasuke-teme's ass Naruto was happy and a little bit jealous. He wasn't angry Bushy-Brow had knocked him out before their fight with Sasuke — why should he get mad for such a common thing? Rock Lee obviously was Naruto's soulmate — he was loud, bald, strong and brave. Bushy-Brow had unimaginably-perfectly-unbelievably awesome outfit: a fantastic spandex suit with orange (ORANGE!) gaiters. Uzumaki imagined himself wearing a spandex suit. Of course green color must be changed to orange and the gaiters should be blue or at least black. To think a little, they could even stay orange for it surely is the best color in the world! When there appeared a large turtle and the Bushy-Brow-Sensei (who looked exactly like Bushy-Brow adult clone); Naruto realized at once what makes the outfit complete — the shinobi flack jacket. Despite the lack of orange color Bushy-Brow-Sensei's outfit was PER-FECT! Flying in the fashion dreams Naruto missed the following events. He slipped out of the airy-fairy nirvana only after hearing the screams:

— LEE!

— GAI-SENSEI!

— LEE!

— GAI-SENSEI!

— LEE!

— GAI-SENSEI!

Uzumaki was tousched by the sight of teacher-and-student's manly embrace. He saw affection, love, friendship and immortal loyalty in it. Those two seemed to live in some other world. Which suddenly came real! The Academy disappeared and so did the surrounding people. The only things left were the two beautiful green beasts, rocky shore, borderless sea, furry clouds and an enormous setting golden sun.

The sight almost left Naruto speechless. Almost. In the other universe Naruto would simply gape. But not in this universe. In this reality there was a sea and seagulls (which somehow were loudly screaming "KAI!"); there was a beautiful orange sunset and the two green figures' dazzling smiles. And the question involuntarily popped out of Naruto's mouth:

— How the hell do they do that?

Naruto didn't expect getting any answer. He even wasn't sure he had spoken the question aloud. That's why a girl's voice wedged among the "KAI!" screams knocked him off balance:

— Nobody knows. Everyone tried to find out but didn't succeed. Gai-sensei and Lee are the only ones to master "The Sunset Genjutsu".

The Uzumaki turned his head in surprise. Nearby there was a girl with a panda-ears-shaped haircut. Her friendly appearance and pink (like Sakura-chan's hair!) shirt were so goodwill evoking that Naruto kept the conversation up:

— Genjutsu? I've never had a talent for genjutsu. That's a pity. I'd like to learn how they manage to do that.

The topic seemed to have exhausted itself and the conversation would die that moment if not for a naughty haughty voice:

— As if a loser like you is able to accomplish something that people much wiser than you couldn't!

Naruto turned back. The voice's owner was a long-haired guy whose face expression tediously resembled the Sasuke's. Uzumaki instantly realized two things: from Bushy-Brow team he liked the Bushy-Brow, the Bushy-Brow-sensei and Panda-chan but he definitely didn't like Huyuga-asshole. There was something in his derogatory remark or in his haughty appearance or in a look of his transparent white eyes that made Naruto mad:

— Shut up! I'll find an answer!

— You simply don't understand. Your fate is neither exploring nor victories. Your inevitable fate is always being a dead last. Some people are destined to achieve greatness the others will always lose. You will never solve this problem.

Naruto's eyes got bloodshot:

— I will! I am Naruto Uzumaki — the future Hokage of Konohagakure! I never take my words back! It's my ninja way, dattebayo!

And after those words something has dramatically changed in the invisible mechanism of the creation.

* * *

Naruto's first urge was immediately darting towards the cleverest person he knew — the famous Professor, the God of Shinobi, grandpa Hokage and ask him. But unfortunately the time was up and the exam was about to start. What a pity he couldn't be in two places simultaneously! He couldn't? Couldn't he? YES, HE COULD!

— Shadow Clone jutsu!

The pressing dudgeon, the flaming anger and the all-crushing determination resulted in not one but a dozen blonds appeared. Without hesitating a second they dashed away from the Academy heading towards the Hokage's Tower.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Uzumaki squad stopped for a skull session few roofs from Hokage's Tower. They couldn't just break into grandpa's office like Boss usually did — Uzumaki had to be on the Chuunin Exam. Grandpa would understand him but others would gossip away about Naruto's failure once again. After a brief discussion and uncustomary brain effort they came to a plan.

In a puff of smoke there appeared fourteen squirrels and a large cat with a ribbon on its ear. The squirrels scattered around the area while the cat imposingly headed to the tower. Totally ignoring the entrance Tora came to the wall and without any hesitation started walking up to the vertical surface to the invitingly opened grandpa study's window. The carelessly walking cat didn't cause a trace of surprise in passing by ninja's minds — only a great relief it's not their turn of catching the demonic beast. The cat skillfully whisked in the window, looked around and froze: Hokage wasn't alone. It's not like there was someone else in the study — there were five Hokages. The first Hiruzen Sarutobi was staring into his crystal ball, the second one was reading a suspiciously familiar orange book and the three with sour faces were working with some documents. Naruto had heard grandpa's grumbling about "paper work" so many times! He released the transformation technique, stood up in full height, in all his unimpressive five feet and pointed at the bunch of Hiruzens accusingly:

— GRANDPA, YOU'RE CHEATING!

Hiruzen Sarutobi proved he wasn't called The God of Shinobi for nothing — the bunch disappeared in a puff of smoke and after a moment there was only one Hokage left in the room. He was sitting at the table half-buried in the pile of papers. His face was austere and tired. He seemed to have been sitting like that for ages. Sarutobi raised his wistful look and asked in a surprise:

— Naruto, aren't you supposed to be on the exam?

* * *

Despite the common opinion one can't use shadow clones for all the hard and boring work — clones are the same persons as the user and want (or don't want) to work as much as the user does. So you should either take your clones seriously or do the work by yourself. They do not fear being dispelled because from their point of view merging feels exactly like from the original's. Just one more bit of experience.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was slightly annoyed. Firstly, that day he had pulled the long straw which meant he could enjoy Jiraya's masterpiece. Though was always glad to see the young lad whom he had always treated like his own grandson but that time Naruto (or, more precisely, his clone) had come rather malapropos. Secondly, plenty is no dainty. Naruto was rather persistent and Hiruzen suddenly realized the horror of the situation. naruto could make hundreds of shadow clones. While he was using them only in battle, where a hundred of memories doesn't differ much, he was unlikely to discover the Shadow Clones' secret. But he surely would notice the difference between memories of the exam and of the Hokage's Tower. Which meant, from that moment on Naruto (or even several Narutos) could ALWAYS be near "his grandpa". Sarutobi had lost his chance of sending his old friend's son away blandly — as soon as Naruto spotted his secret way of paperwork elimination, the possibility of reading the orange book or vigilantly watching over Konoha's life (and especially the female part of the hot springs) ever again, was quickly floating away from his life. Knowing that Naruto's way of thinking is rather unidirectional, Hiruzen realized he needed an urgent red herring.

— I am not omniscient, Naruto. I don't know how Gai and Lee make their sea sunset, and they don't know it either. So you have to find it out by yourself.

— Grandpa, what should I do? I must learn it! I never take my words back, dattebayo!

— First of all, cheer up. I'll sign a permission for you. So you can go to the library and find the information you need. You can also ask Lee and Gai any time you need.

— But the library is bo-oring! And what should I start with?

— Well, you can't become a researcher without using a library. What to start with?.. You need a research journal, like a true scientist!

— Grandpa, can I ask Iruka-sensei for help? He is the best teacher in the Academy!

Hiruzen disliked the idea of distracting one of the Academy's teachers from his work very much. But the choice: "Me or Iruka?" wasn't hard at all. He inwardly promised to make amends with some premium, he decided:

— Of course, Naruto-kun! And even more — I'll assign Iruka to be a curator of your project!

— Cool! That's really, really cool! Together with Iruka we'll solve this problem in a moment! Faster than you blink, dattebayo!

Sarutobi took out a blank sheet of paper and wrote:

 _The bearer of this document, genin Uzumaki Naruto is entitled to make a research on the "Power of Youth" project. Project curator — Umino Iruka._

 _Provide any required assistance._

 _ **The Third Hokage of The Village, Hidden in the Leaves, Sarutobi Hiruzen**_

Having certified the paper with his stamp Hiruzen habitually protected the sheet from any changes with a special jutsu and gave it to Naruto.

— Thanks a lot, grandpa! I'll soon be back, get your hat ready for Hokage Uzumaki!

Sarutobi watched the orange blur jumping out of the window and sighed in relief. He summoned the safe for brain amount of shadow clones again and pulled his orange book out of his pocket. The clones started raffling the place near the crystal sphere.

An impatience, a desire to have a quiet time and to find out if Arata could sneak into Akio's boudoir — all those feelings prevented Konoha cleverest shinobi from realizing the danger of "any required assistance" formulation.

* * *

 _Jornal of fjuture Konoha Hakagi_

 _Uzumaki Naruto!_

 _Tooday granpa said that I nid ta make a jornal like a tru sien… scein... cientist! Whail Boss is on exam we go to librari. Angry librar… uh, angry bloke didn't wanna let us in, but we noked him out with our haremu-no-jutsu! Take that you stoopid old pervy! ^_^_

 _anbu ran from evrywere and wanna put us in a prizon but we showd 'em granpas paper! They kinda aplojized and helpd find a ginjutsoo buk for beginers. Naruto-1 ofered to find a buk of how to make reserch like a tru cientist. Alpha-Naruto ofered to wear cientist robes cuz we're cientists. Naruto-first ofered to make cientist robes oranje, cuz we're Uzumaki! Oranje cientist robes — super cool! WE WIL BE HAKAGE IN A BLINK! Need to do sumthin with names cuz there's a grait jumble. Noone wants to be second._

* * *

After a short skull-session Team Naruto headed home to read the precious books. The Huyuga-asshole had to be outclassed as soon as possible! One of the Narutos darted to the Academy to clarify the situation and tell Boss about the incredible results they had achieved.

Books studying did not work out. Firstly, despite the titles: "Genjutsu for toddlers. 72 hours within the family" by Ichiha Utachi and "The instructions to a young scientist. Cutting and sewing — the first steps to allmightyness" written by some guy Hiruko, Naruto couldn't stand reading them. Even such simple and clear texts were like the strongest military cryptographic ciphers to him. That is why after a short argument they came to a plan.

Full stomach makes thinking easier, so they needed to have a meal.

It's better to begin with something more graphical. The perfect match for a visual material was the last movie "The Blizzard Princess", because there was something about evil scientists in the ads.

The plan was quite simple which meant it was reliable. Gama-chan was taken out from the secret place and the weekly ramen amount — from the kitchen shelves. And the team started bringing the plan into action.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm still looking for my beta...

* * *

Naruto-prime was rushing towards the Academy in swift jumps. He was going to finish his errand as soon as possible to drop in the Ichiraku's on his way back. He didn't have money for ramen (his conscience couldn't let him pay with shadow cloned ryo), but it could be written on his tab. Having learned from a passing genin that the first part of Chunin Exam had already ended and everyone was gathering near the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, Uzumaki immediately changed the direction. From the corner of his eye, he noticed some pink blot and yelled happily:

— Wait for me, Sakura-chan! SAKURA-CHAN!

Sakura turned back, surprised. She was totally sure that mook had run forward. When she saw Naruto was wandering somewhere again, risking her and Sasuke-kun's chances of becoming chunins, she raised her fist:

— NARUTO! WHERE ARE YOU WANDERING, YOU IDIOT!

* * *

Having heard his own voice Naruto Uzumaki turned round abruptly. The riddle of sunset genjutsu had obviously been solved — Grandpa had helped him, of course. The only things left were to listen to the report, dispel the clone and rub the answer in long-haired Hyuuga's smug face. He ran around the corner and froze in terror: Sakura-chan's fist was rapidly approaching his stunned clone's face.

The fist ran into Naruto's nose. Surprised Sakura stared at clouds of smoke and falling paper with a Hokage's stamp.

Naruto reacted without hesitation. He swiftly pushed off the wall and in a long leap caught the paper which he somehow knew was very important.

He was lying on the ground trying to think over what had just happened. The memories of the exam were fresh and bright but he also remembered turning into Tora; he knew how Grandpa spends his labor hours; he was aware of how much harder his goal had turned out to achieve. The realization gradually started to leak into his mind.

Without giving the situation a better thinking (he had always been an action man) Naruto jumped up and crossed his fingers in his worldwide known gesture:

— Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Suddenly an enormous weight pressed him down on his knees. Konoha streets were flooded with an orange sea. Trying to get himself together, Naruto realized, that lending himself to the first impulse is not very good; and that exhausting his chakra reserves shortly before an important exam is quite stupid. Though he was recovering quite fast, so Naruto gave a nod to a half thousand of his alter-ego's and headed towards the training ground 44. His thoughts were circling around the new perspectives.

* * *

The group of Narutos was eating up last ramen reserves. Clones were emotionally discussing the film which surprisingly gave them so many things to think about. Firstly, the professional requirements for a true scientist were clear at once. And the word, hastily given to the Hyuuga-asshole led Uzumaki to becoming one. Even the Professor, The God of Shinobi doesn't know the answer, so it'd be quite silly to hope that the problem could be solved easily, without making experiments and reading books. Secondly, there appeared ideas of improving Naruto's image. He already was quite awesome — no one else had an orange sports suit! But only the sky was the limit to his future awesomeness!

All in all, becoming a scientist certainly-absolutely-necessarily-totally required:

1\. Citadel. That thought had appeared before — there was not enough free space in the flat for fifteen clones. They decided that the best would be to find a formidable castle but some underground caves or grim ruins would also be fine. They had already known few variants — years of pranking and playing hide-and-seek with ANBU didn't pass in vain.

2\. They also needed to find minions, because every true scientist has some. The proposal of The Boss being a scientist and the clones being his minions was decided to be foolish and ridiculous and thrown away in a second. Narutos were pondering of making the Konohamaru's gang the minions: firstly, they were all even shorter than Naruto and secondly, Udon was bespectacled which came in very suitable for a scientist. And the fact Moegi's hair color was the best one in the world, finally affirmed the minions candidacies.

3\. He obligatory required a scientist female assistant. She had to have a scratchpad and always follow the Boss and write down his genius thoughts. He wished it would be Sakura-chan but the phantom pain in his jaw made him seriously doubt her candidacy. The vacancy stayed unoccupied — none of the Narutos could agree on transforming with a Sexy-jutsu and boring waddling with a scratchpad.

4\. A special scientist outfit. A lab coat (an orange one!) had been a lucky guess but Naruto also needed glasses. That wasn't a problem though — they could put their old goggles back to the forehead and find some better place for hitai-ate.

5\. A predatory pet. The movie's antagonist had a pet leopard which looked so-o-o-o cool! But Uzumaki Naruto is the best and the coolest person ever so his beast should be even bigger and cooler! The first one to come into Naruto's mind was Madam Shijimi's cat — Tora-chan. But the aching memories of countless scratches made Narutos think better of it. They also thought of the Inuzuka's ninkens. Kiba's mom had an enormous beast! But Naruto was going to become the greatest Hokage and scientist, so his pet had to be the best of the best! So the pet predator still had to be found but at the moment there were just several obscure ideas floating in the back of Narutos' minds.

**A big scarlet eye opened in the large dimly lit and flooded cage. Then a thunderous sneezing echoed the dark vault.**

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki was always getting the best of every person around him. That is why his beloved Sakura-chan was not a brutal kicking ass psycho, but an angel, who had a crush on a wrong person. Gloomy Sasuke despite all his enmity, was a true and close friend, almost a brother. Kakashi, who was always being late and hardly ever paid any attention to his students' progress — was a great sensei, nearly a father. In Naruto's eyes, even the bloodthirsty Zabuza was a good person who got into a harsh life situation, and Uzumaki was very sorry for his death. Not to speak about the death of Haku — the soulmate who showed Naruto his ninja way.

That is why Naruto's perception of the film was totally different from the director's concept — Naruto liked all characters.

The Blizzard Princess was a real Connie. Her life conditions in The Dark Citadel were quite comfortable but still, it was a cage. And Naruto hated slavery with all his heart — it reminded him of Gatou.

The Lonely Ninja was just a proper shinobi — he was cool, fought evil and rescued princesses.

Surprisingly, the greatest sympathy was connected to the main "bad guy". His plans of conquering the world were quite alike Naruto's desire of becoming Hokage. His attempts to win The Blizzard Princess' love were like Naruto's unrequited love to Sakura-chan. And the fact that the final battle between Doctor Dark (who was wearing the coolest chakra armor with a lot of glowing seals lines and different technological stuff) and The Lonely Ninja had finished almost in a draw, and the latter had won it only because of great luck. made Naruto sure that the shinobi-scientist career is not so bad. If only those science books were not so incomprehensible and the words in them — not so complicated!

Someone even made a proposal to learn fuinjutsu — to make the same (or even cooler) chakra armor but it was declined on the vine — there were fuinjutsu facultative lessons in the Academy, but everyone was sure that sealing techniques were very-very difficult.

The only thing which seemed improbable was how took no notice of his pretty assistant's feelings. In his presence, she always blushed and stuttered so badly that even a complete idiot must have understood that she had a crush on him! Another surprising thing was why the Evil Scientist allowed the Princess to kick and punch him every time they met. That made him look importunate and pathetic. Every stupid dummy would realize that at once!

**At the same time Naruto Uzumaki, who was tightly cuddled into two round globes, suddenly sneezed. Anko Mitarashi licking blood from his cheek even bit him in surprise**

To sum up, becoming cool and kick everybody's ass required:

1\. Being a scientist. Scientists are cool.

2\. Being a shinobi. Shinobi are cool.

3\. Being cool, positive and sarcastic, like The Lonely Ninja. Because cool blokes are cool.

The plan was ready. It was time to find Iruka-sensei. But suddenly someone knocked at the door...


	4. Chapter 4

The Naruto, who was closest to the door, came to open it. An enchanting sight showed up in front of him. The street was filled with an orange sea of sports suits. Naruto hasn't seen so many clones even during his hapless clash with the Mizuki-traitor. The clones quickly told their comrades about new opportunities opened before them and the orange-coloured sea moved in search of Iruka-sensei like a wave of lemmings. Several hundred clones could find anyone.

* * *

Umino Iruka loved Naruto as his scampish little brother. At first, of course, his opinion of Fox's vessel had been negative, but that orange clot of charisma and unfaltering energy had quickly found a way to his heart. But that didn't mean Naruto didn't annoy him. His regular truancy, learning reluctance and lesson sabotage with stupid pranks didn't bring Umino any joy. And his first thought after seeing the orange crowd in his office was to run away and hide as far as he could. But several Narutos handed their sensei the document signed by the Hokage and told him of their current difficulties. Iruka streamed chakra into the paper to make sure that it was valid (in fact, all of them were!). And that meant that he didn't have a choice. But suddenly a surprising thought visited Umino's head. He turned away, put his hands together and made an inexpressible sound, something between an eagle's cry, villainous laughter, and an asthma seizure. The sound was very unpleasant and would have reminded to the knowing people the distinctive "Ku-ku-ku!" of the Snake Sannin. He had the means and the possibilities to avenge all the missed lessons, all ignored lectures, all truancies and learning reluctance. Naruto was bound by the hook of his oath and everyone knew that Naruto Uzumaki NE-VER takes his words back. And with the help of a loving teacher, his path to solving the desired goal could be very roundabout!

— Iruka-sensei, are you alright?

— Yes, pardon, I choked on air. Show me your journal and I will think about where should we begin to achieve your goal.

* * *

 _ **Journal of the future Konoha Hokage Uzumaki Naruto.**_

 _Iruka-sensei made me rewrite this note until it didn't have any mistakes. He said that a true scientist couldn't tolerate his notes having or-pho-gra-phical mistakes and_ punkt _… pun…_ punctu _… (crossed out) with incorrect commas and that meant that we had to check every word with a dictionary._

 _He approved the books about_ genjutsu _and science. He gave us a dictionary and several school books about spelling under our personal res-pon-sibi-lity._

 _I tried to say that you don't need to write correctly to learn_ genjutsu _, but Iruka-sensei said that a scientist has to be able to do that and asked if I was going to take my words back. I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm never backing down!_

 _Iruka-sensei assigned each ten of us to study the needed subjects. I understand that I do need Chakra Theory. The training in making the Hand Seals with which I have problems – too. But how do Math, Geometry, Physics, Chemistry, History, and Geography relate to_ genjutsu _?!_

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki were deeply troubled. As the number of them grew up they faced the most difficult question — where to get ramen for such a big crowd? Eating in Ichiraku's meant ending up in a complete debt evasion and losing The Food of Gods forever. And they didn't have enough money for buying ramen in shops.

The fact clones don't need any food, that chakra is the only thing required for their existence was flung aside with dander — ramen is an absolute necessity, no matter if you are a clone or an original!

This meant they needed to find a source of financing large enough for each of them to eat in the Ichiraku's!

One of the Narutos announced a genius idea: if the Shadow Clone Technique allowed creating a lot of the Hokage's Documents copies, they could do the same to ramen! It is not an option for the original Naruto but shadow ramen would be acceptable for shadow clones.

The original jutsu didn't suit as it increased not only the amount of ramen but also a number of eaters. Which only aggravated the problem.

The orange sea darted to Team 7 training grounds, and soon fizzing sounds and large puffs of chakra smoke started to show up there. If Naruto had heard about Shuriken Cloning Technique, the creation of the Great Shadow Ramen Creation Jutsu would have been much faster.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dear Beta! I don't know who you are, but I...

I'm still looking for you!

* * *

Team 7 was wading through the Forest of Death. From time to time Naruto was wincing — upcoming memories of dispelled clones caused pain. Not a physical pain — Uzumaki had really supernatural mental sustainability (it is unknown, why. Maybe because of some genetic predisposition or some traits of character. Or maybe it was the completely formed inner world in the Death God Seal which worked as a buffer). It was naruto's soul aching badly after each failure in developing such a useful technique. He reproached himself. Why hadn't he come to such a brilliant idea long ago? Even if Shadow Ramen wouldn't sate the body there would still remain the heavenly taste of the Food-Of-The-Gods! Also, the jutsu was rather perspective — not because a small side effect of copying cunais and shurikens (which could provide endless ammunition). The main thing was the jutsu could be developed into Shadow Ramen Creation Technique! And then! Ramen could be created out of nowhere! And these stupid exams distract him from developing The Most Necessary Jutsu Ever! Uzumaki realized that if he wanted to get his Infinite Ramen, he had to finish the second part as soon as possible. His chakra reserves had recovered in few hours, and Naruto was ready for great deeds again.

— Mass Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Clones created with a thought "find the damn scroll and finish the exam as soon as possible" didn't try to escape The Forest Of Death to train the jutsu, but spread in every direction. Unfortunately, shadow clones had a great flaw — fulfilling tasks in parallel, they didn't have any idea about their brothers' actions. it was very, very bad news for every other participant. At least for those whom Naruto Uzumaki didn't feel friendly to.

This exam went down in history as the first one without qualification tour because of a too low number of finalists. Everyone was amazed at the fact that no lethal injuries happened — Naruto's philosophy was strongly against the unnecessary violence. Though sturdy ass-kicking he considered being the necessary one.

Sabaku no Gaara didn't get an opportunity of satisfying his mother's bloodthirsty demands, Orochimaru didn't find the last Uchiha, Kabuto Yakushi was cursing his team members' impatience as they attacked the non-hostile to Konoha genins shortie, were buried under an orange wave and lost their scroll.

* * *

Team 8 was stunned. When some shinobi popped out in front of them, they immediately got ready for defense. But no one could imagine the enemies would turn out to be Naruto's clones and dump a lot of Sky and Earth scrolls on the grass with a wide happy grin. Kiba was snorting discontentedly — his best friend and rival's forthcoming was far too impressive, like a true alpha's! Shino considered that after getting a lot of scrolls offering them to comrades is very reasonable. Hinata activated Byakugan, overlooked the surroundings and was just able to say:

— Lots… of… Narutos… Hundreds…. E-e-ep!

The closest clone barely managed to catch the unconscious Hyuga before she hit the nearby stump with her head.

The team headed to the Tower with an orange Honor Guard. Unconscious Hinata was cuddled to her beloved person's back.

* * *

Team Asuma was enthusiastic. Before meeting a crowd of Narutos waving scrolls, they found themselves in predicament — they simply couldn't find any enemies, which meant a high possibility of a failure. And a failure was troublesome! It meant a lot of troublesome mother's nagging, it meant staying in the forest for a long time without crisps and tasty food and that Sakura would get an extra bonus in Sasuke-kun's heart capturing competition.

That is why the troublesome blonde who had brought the scrolls rid them of troublesome troubles which allowed watching clouds for whole five days. They could reach the Tower before the end of the day, and be there in time for supper! And Choji was very grateful to his second (after Shika) best friend for that! Though Ino saw at Naruto in a new way — the clones were covered with mud which made his orange fashion crime almost tolerable, and his ruffled hair and habitual whiskers-like-stripes on a dirty face gave him some primal brutality. She suddenly saw his soulful sky-blue eyes, golden hair and wide happy smile in a new way. Of course, Naruto wasn't as cool as Sasuke-kun, but the gap between them suddenly turned out to be not so great!

All the way to the Tower Ino was hanging on one of the Uzumakis' shoulder, overflooding him with lots of different questions. By the end she got several sappy gossips to share with other girls!

* * *

Team Guy was depressed. The Flames of Youth couldn't burn brightly without rivals. The impossibility of getting a proper scroll meant another five days between the hyperactive rock and depressed hard place, meant wincing after loud screams and watching the sour expression on the whitish-eyed face. The Fate didn't have a favor for them today — apparently because of the loser's presence in the team.

Naruto was slightly embarrassed. On the one hand, it was the Hyuga-asshole whom he disliked very much. But on the other — it was the Bushy Brow's and Panda-chan's team! Could there be any doubt?!

— Bushy Brow! Princess Panda! Hyuga-asshole! Just look what we've got!

Tenten felt her cheeks blushing.

* * *

Naruto squad was running through the forest. The blonde's usual restlessness had grown up to a feverish excitement. They had met the Forest of Death's tigers! The enormous beasts ten feet at the withers suited the predatory pet's place brilliantly, so the goal of becoming a great scientist and solving the Sunset Genjutsu riddle became much closer. Narutos heard a loud noise and headed to its source. In the clearing there towered a monstrous figure of a giant bear which looked even more imposing than tigers! Excellent! The coolest scientist's predatory pet ever! It's hard to imagine anything cooler than that! Except for maybe tailed beasts… But where could you find one?... WAIT A MINUTE! THE TAILED BEASTS! BIJU! FOXES ARE O-O-ORA-A-ANGE!

** Kurama, the strongest biju, the most favorite son of Hagoromo Ootsutsuki, the greatest man in written history, fidgeted nervously in his cage feeling the approaching of the inevitable fate**

Narutos ran into the clearing. Looking around, they discovered not only the enormous beast but a delicate girl pressing herself into a tree trunk. Narutos couldn't take their eyes off her.

A slim. lissome body. Chiseled, clear-cut features. A waterfall of bright scarlet (the second best color!) hair. Scarlet eyes behind rounded glasses. The girl was like a dream came true.

A hatred to the bear, which tried to tear the ideal girl, flooded Naruto's soul. Ten hands drew ten kunais from ninja bags.

An acrid bitter lump was in Karin's throat. Her scum teammates had got away leaving her alone, that is why when a large bear shot out of the thicket, she panicked. The short chase finished in a dead end — an impassable thicket promised nothing but immediate death. Karin closed her eyes hopelessly, not wanting to accept her demise. And it didn't come. Despite The Kagura's Eyes technique wasn't activated several extremely powerful chakra signatures. The chakra had a dual nature — it was enswathingly warm and sunny and felt like home, but at the same time wild and ferocious, like furious prominences of a scorching sun. Suddenly a heavy, pressing and cutting into the bone killer intent spread all over the clearing. There was a distinctive whistle of flying kunais and a scared bear roaring. The bear resembling a pincushion because of thrust kunais ran away in terror crushing young trees on his way. Karin saw many blonde twins standing in the clearing. Ten pairs of eyes watched her. The blondes threw their hands up pointed at her with their fingers and simultaneously shouted:

— I WANT YOU TO BE MY!

Karin had already been exhausted by stress and terror so now she suffered an emotional overload and sank into salivatory unconsciousness. That is why she didn't hear the ending of the phrase:

— ...ASSISTANT!

Spectacles! The assistant will wear spectacles! PER-FECT!

One of the clones took the girl on his back and the Naruto squad disappeared in the thicket.

* * *

Naruto seemed to have finally found his assistant. Yep, she was weird and had some illness (could there be any other reasons of her feverish blushing and constant stuttering?). But, firstly, she had never taunted him in the Academy (which made her candidacy one of the most suitable ones), secondly, she had offered him help on the exam! Furthermore, she had eyes which could see chakra. This could be priceless for Sunset Phenomenon research. naruto only three people with similar ability: Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-teme and Hyuga-asshole. Kakashi didn't count — he was always being late which was inappropriate for a scientist! and it was obvious he would spend all the experiments reading his orange book. The two morons — Uchiha and Hyuga didn't even worth mentioning. Yes, Hinata is the best! she only needed to be cured. Fainting wouldn't be useful for making experiments and stuttering also needed to be fixed somehow.

* * *

It seemed Haruto had found his assistant. She enjoyed bossing around, gossiping and clinging to Sasuke-teme too much but she did have advantages. Firstly, she was a blue-eyed blonde so she suited the Naruto Research Team brilliantly. Of course, she'd better wear glasses and be clever (who could call one of Sasuke's fans clever?! Of course, except Sakura-chan!) but still she was good.

**A bespectacled blonde girl working on probation in Cypher Division sneezed**

Secondly, she was very-very beautiful. And even a moron would understand that an assistant should be pretty — in the movie, the Doctor Dark's assistant was nearly as charming as The Blizzard Princess. Also, Ino was the most experience in all that fashion stuff and could help him to create such a great shinobi-scientist uniform that everyone would simply gape. Finally, their family jutsus were somehow connected with brains which meant they were quite suitable for different scientific stuff! So, that's settled!

— Ino, will you be my assistant?

* * *

Naruto found his assistant at last! Maybe she wasn't familiar with all that scientific stuff but Naruto too is making his first steps on that way. She had a lot of advantages — she was pretty (as any scientist assistant has to). She was breathtakingly-asskickngly cool — she had a lot of sharp iron stuff and she always hit the target! She had a cool haircut. And, most importantly, she's in the Bushy-Brow Team, which meant she could watch them better than anyone else! No doubt!

— Princess Panda, will you be my assistant?

* * *

She was the best candidacy for an assistant! Firstly, she was the prettiest girl in the world! Secondly, she was the cleverest girl in the Academy, the kunoichi of the year! She was his beloved Sakura-chan! And finally, will she refuse her teammate?

— Sakura-chan, will you be my assistant?

— SHUT UP, NARUTO-BAKA! I WILL ASSIST ONLY SASUKE-KUN!

When the chakra smoke cleared Naruto was happy that the question rolled off the clone's tongue. That meant he didn't have to wait for his jaw mending and his teeth growing again (despite such things happened regularly Naruto couldn't get used to them — it was itching like hell). He decided always talk to Sakura-chan with the help of clones.

* * *

Hinata was slowly floating out of blissful unconsciousness. Some obscure and misty memories came to her about activating Byakugan and seeing lots of Narutos. What a wonderful dream! The girl paid more attention to her senses. Her bosom was tightly huddled with something unbelievably warm and dear, she smelled some deliriously attractive scent and heard the dearest voice in the world arguing with Kiba about some youth and some genjutsu. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the blonde chevelure. Her hands were curled around the shoulders in orange fabric.

— E-e-ep!

Hinata fainted again.

* * *

Naruto told notous Kiba about his difficulties. Shino was listening to them with his usual poker face. Akamaru was running circles around them and barked from time to time, taking part in the conversation.

— Wow, dude that's a froblem! But if you gotta deal with a genjutsu, Kurenai-sensei is the best specialist in Konoha!

— Appealing for help to the person who specializes in the mentioned area is quite rational. Why? Only a specialist can give the most adequate aid and consultation in all existing difficulties.

— Wut?!

— Shino says: "Talk to Kurenai-sensei!"

Hinata tossed on his back Naruto was afraid to confess to even himself that he liked carrying the Hyuga. The bulges pressing against his back (which he hadn't mentioned before because of her baggy jacket) felt great and reminded about the beginning of the exam when the Mad Snake Woman hugged him tightly. naruto blushed and shook his head — he was no pervert! But before he managed to ask Hinata the most important question there was a quiet "E-e-ep!" and Hinata went limp again.

* * *

After the tenth Hyuga's faint and the tenth Uzumaki's question about her illness Kiba couldn't hold down:

— SHE LOVES YOU, MORON!

Kiba was steamed wheat. How could somebody have such a wooden head? Everyone liked watching Naruto in the Academy and laughing at the stupid blonde who doesn't see obvious things. There was a silent agreement that nobody would open the Uzumaki's eyes. But that was more than the Inuzuka could stand.

Naruto felt awful. It turned out Hinata wasn't weird. She simply was very-very shy. And he treated her the same as Konoha inhabitants treated him. He ignored her existence just like they ignored his! He did that to a person who treated him better than grandpa, better than Ayame-oneechan and Teuchi-jiji, even better than Iruka-sensei! For future Konoha Hokage, it was an unbearable shame! it had to be fixed up somehow. But the existence of Sakura-chan made the matter even more complicated. Sakura had always been the first and the only one, but Naruto was a shinobi and understood that the duty can come against the feelings. That is why he looked at Hinata tossing on the sleeping bag spread on the grass and said, tightly squeezing his bleeding heart:

— Hinata, please, forgive me for all the time I didn't mention you. But I'll compensate that! Hinata, will you be my LEAD assistant?

* * *

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

The next chapter is bigger, so it'll take me awhile to translate it. I'll try to post it here int the beginning of August.

See you! =)


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